Brotherly Love

Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet. ~Vietnamese Proverb

I Heart My Cell Phone Camera

Thankful that when I cannot grab our awesome but large camera that I can usually capture some fun with my subpar but very accessible phone!

Moms out there...do pursed-lip-pass-outs melt you like they melt me??


And how about those fun moments where you know you must strip your kid down so they can enjoy their favorite snack (oh, and pardon the randomness of my dinner table)?


Or times when the thing you absolutely don't need turns out to be just the thing they needed...

And, I've spent the better part of the last week with the image of Adam's smitten face at the sight of Santa at Walmart...
3 seems to be the magic age where Christmas means something to them.
It didn't hurt that he yelled 'Santa, I need a drum!" as we walked away.

The "I heart fall' series... volume two.

My apologies for the gratuitous photo display, but we had a fun day outdoors last week enjoying what may be the last warm day of the season (we will see, Buffalo can be quite confused).
Adam has gotten resourceful and uses the slide as his jumping board into the leaves. Zachary tries to follow suit, and is just not ready for that yet. Enter some tears, some wailing... but overall fun!!
Watch for more Fall fun when the rest of the leaves from the big trees fall!


He is midair! (enlarge to see)

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Ok, so it's not quite the same at a school yard tiff, but it sure is fun to watch my two stinkers have at it!

Stop touching me!

You wanna piece of this?

You asked for it!

One...two...three- We have a WINNER! It's the underdog, Zachary Vinkle, weighing in at 25 pounds and 32 inches. Small but strong!


**disclaimer** please try to ignore the Nuk in my 3 year old's mouth....it's a habit that is yet to be broken.

 

"No mother loves her children so much that she isn't happy when they are asleep."
Author Unknown

The Proof is in the Pudding

I have been thinking about the topic for my next blog all day. Needlessly, apparently.... leave it to me to walk of out the dining room for a minute...


This is how I found them...
     
Zachary knows he's in trouble!

Adam sweetly feeds his brother

This is the way they kiss

MMMMMM...

Grin!

Looking a little guilty... or full?

Little Stinker

Daily Dose of Adorableness

Wordless Wednesday

No Caption Necessary

No one taught them...

The love between brothers is an amazing thing that I am blessed to witness and be a part of.

A Summer Lesson

My little stinkers

We support the arts.

Baby kisses
Fun time with daddy
TV time!

So, here goes another. At this point, I have not even made my blog known, I am more using it as a journal because it's much easier to grab the computer and type than get a notebook and a pen... those of you with toddlers are well aware of what I am talking about. Well, something has been made clear to me this summer through various circumstances that I have been told about...

I will be the first to admit that I have a great life- a generous, warm husband who is devoted to me and our boys, two of the cutest kids on the planet, a nice doggy, and an overall blessed existence. So, it's important that you know I am NOT complaining at all, just being real, being me..

Like many people do, I more than occasionally find myself envying the lives of others, people I don't know and some I do... for instance the carefree life of a city person, the good looking couple who moved to an awesome, warm location on a whim, the wife of a VIP who is in the center of it all, the perfectly organized mom who would never let her house get so messy that she would be embarrassed to have company...
Ok, so I don't sit around and think about this daily ( I have an infant and a toddler), but it crosses my mind from time to time... what might it be like to be there, to be this, or that...
This summer, time and again, I learned facts about some lives I might have viewed as desirable and appealing... facts like unfaithful husbands, controlling and abusive marriages, facades that cover insecurities, and loneliness in the lives of people who seem to constantly be surrounded by people who want to serve them... And again, I am reminded that God talks about this , instructs us, and reminds us of just this...

And don't be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God's place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there. God defines your life. 1 Corinthians 7:17 (The Message)

But godliness with contentment is great gain.1 Timothy 6:6 (New International Version)

See above photos for proof.